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Pillage
(Pillage #1)
by
Upon his mother's death, fifteen-year-old Beck Phillips is sent to live with an eccentric uncle he had never met in a remote manor house, where he learns that his family suffers from a curse that allows him to make plants grow on command and dragon eggs hatch.
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Hardcover, 312 pages
Published
July 1st 2008
by Shadow Mountain
(first published 2008)
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Start your review of Pillage (Pillage, #1)
2 stars
For the most part, this book was boring to me. From the picture on the cover, I expected it to be a dragon adventure. Well, the first sign of dragons was on page 207. That’s the two thirds mark, y’all. Definitely not soon enough for my taste. Another reason why it was boring was because the lead was a horrendous boy who bullied others so he wouldn’t get bullied himself. I never did figure out why I was supposed to be rooting for the jerk. He showed a completely different personality in th ...more
For the most part, this book was boring to me. From the picture on the cover, I expected it to be a dragon adventure. Well, the first sign of dragons was on page 207. That’s the two thirds mark, y’all. Definitely not soon enough for my taste. Another reason why it was boring was because the lead was a horrendous boy who bullied others so he wouldn’t get bullied himself. I never did figure out why I was supposed to be rooting for the jerk. He showed a completely different personality in th ...more
Reviewed by Tasha for TeensReadToo.com
Fifteen-year-old Beck Phillips' favorite activity is causing trouble - and his latest scheme is setting off an angry hive of bees through the air ducts in his current school. Maybe this inclination for trouble comes from moving around a lot, a non-existent father, or the fact that his mother is very ill.
When his mom dies, Beck is uprooted from his life once again and is sent to live with his wealthy but estranged uncle out in the mountainous country. On the ...more
Fifteen-year-old Beck Phillips' favorite activity is causing trouble - and his latest scheme is setting off an angry hive of bees through the air ducts in his current school. Maybe this inclination for trouble comes from moving around a lot, a non-existent father, or the fact that his mother is very ill.
When his mom dies, Beck is uprooted from his life once again and is sent to live with his wealthy but estranged uncle out in the mountainous country. On the ...more
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Pillage is one of those fun adventure fantasy books that young boys should enjoy. In a time when Harry Potter and Percy Jackson and others are stealing the show, it's fun to find a fantasy book of similar vein that is still very fresh and fun to read.
Pillage follows a young boy named Beck through his very troubled life. The initial chapter gives us insight into his devious streak as he carries out a plot that would result in having school closed for a few days. The plan falls apart and Beck quic ...more
Pillage follows a young boy named Beck through his very troubled life. The initial chapter gives us insight into his devious streak as he carries out a plot that would result in having school closed for a few days. The plan falls apart and Beck quic ...more
Skye, Obert Pillage, Shadow Mountain; Language~G, Sexual Content~G; Violence~G
Life for Beck Phillips has just gone from not so good to miserable. For the past several years he has been the primary caregiver for his mentally ill mother who has just passed away. Not minutes after her funeral he is put on a train and told that his uncle, who he didn’t know existed, has agreed to take him in. The train takes him to a remote town called Kingsplot. Beck’s uncle lives in a mansion high on a hill away f ...more
Life for Beck Phillips has just gone from not so good to miserable. For the past several years he has been the primary caregiver for his mentally ill mother who has just passed away. Not minutes after her funeral he is put on a train and told that his uncle, who he didn’t know existed, has agreed to take him in. The train takes him to a remote town called Kingsplot. Beck’s uncle lives in a mansion high on a hill away f ...more
The story started out lame, and then began to intrigue me. In the end I couldn't get past Skye's writing style. Most of the dialogue was cheesy and cliche' (like a teenager would ever say, "I'm sorry for the way I acted...for my actions.") And when a dragon is chasing him, "his presence made me move faster." His presence made me move faster?! Are you serious? It sounds like a five year old is writing this.
However, there were a few great twists at the end which I found satisfying.
I think Skye's ...more
However, there were a few great twists at the end which I found satisfying.
I think Skye's ...more
Redundant, awkward prose; an interesting premise but dull execution; unrealistic dialogue--and narration, for that matter; an unrelatable protagonist; all the action you wanted squeezed into a tiny segment of the book; (view spoiler)
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I am a sucker for pretty cover art and this book has been making puppy-dog eyes at me for a while now. I finally got around to reading it and like Obert Skye's Leven Thumps series (which also have pretty covers) I found it a little slow to get into. It seemed to me that the last 1/4 of the book had everything I expected it to have while the first 3/4 was just kind of slow and didn't provide enough new plot information or twists to drive the story the way it could have been. It was obviously good
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I might be mean to say this, but I don't fancy a book that introduces a bunch of hatching dragon eggs as though they were unborn puppies (albeit hatched from eggs) and then have the protagonist who witnessed the hatching proceed to destroy them. Yea, yea, dragons don't evoke sympathy, but the balance of this particular narrative was off. Don't get the child (reader) to think the baby dragons might be pets and then have them be killed with nary a regret. Seems like an animal cruelty treatise the
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This was a great book. I like the twists and turns in it. At some points a tiny bit confusing but pretty much all of it was understandable. It is a short-read so if you are looking for a book to read to kill some time it would be a great book to pick out. I got it because I liked this Author's other books so i decided to give it a try.
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not my favorite. I thought it was all a bit obvious. The ending wasn't my favorite either.
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This was a good story, but I struggled with several different things about the book. I did not like how much Beck complained about adults and how they say and do stupid things. This is not an idea I want encouraged to my preteens/teens which is the intended audience for this book. I also felt like Beck had the annoying disobedient teenager part down, but was way to perspective about feelings to make me truly believe he was a teen. I will not be listening to the rest of the series.
It had a very nostalgic feeling to it. Reminded me of the books I read as a child. Of course I can't hold this book to an adult standard...so I'm simply going to enjoy the easy read and the nostalgic feeling it gave me.
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I thought this was a great YA book.
Obert Skye describes things in the book very well. He created detailed pictures in my head. The setting is a big mansion that the main character describes as "somewhere between a mall and a castle. There were more chimneys and windows than any chimney or window store could possibly stock. I counted at least seven floors." The main character is a boy named Beck Phillips who goes to live with his uncle because his mother dies. The story makes me feel kind of cold because of all of the mist and fog
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The reason why i liked this book is because one i love storys with dragons they are cool creatures that can fly breath fire etc. I think its funny how the main character Beck is a realy big troble maker if you have read the book right at the beginning he is in a duct with some bees wow pretty crazy. There is also some pretty amuzeing comedy like when hes in the airduckt he falls into a classrom on a desk i thought that was hastarical. There is also good action like in the end the town is raided
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Wow! That was really good! It started out kind of iffy and I could put the book down without any real drive to pick it up again. So when I reached page 62 I basically forced myself to read it because I didn't want to take forever to read this. It got much better once I got to page 100 or so.
I was constantly waiting for a dragon to appear but it was quite the surprise when Beck found a certain something. Skye did very good with interweaving Beck's plant-growing ability and the dragons together. ...more
I was constantly waiting for a dragon to appear but it was quite the surprise when Beck found a certain something. Skye did very good with interweaving Beck's plant-growing ability and the dragons together. ...more
I read this book for a book club and didn't enjoy it at all. I may have been in a bad mood when I read it, but nothing clicked for me. The beginning of this book is very slow, the first two thirds could really be hurried up a bit more and the first chapter cut out entirely. For me, the characters were very inconsistent. Their reactions to things do not make sense with the characters. Beck (the maine character) is not emotional at all, which makes hime horribly hard to relate to. The only charact
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A very quick, but enjoyable read. I immediately handed it to my 12-year old after I was done because I knew she'd love it (I was right).
I liked the idea here, and thought that Obert delivered it well.
Setting: A dreary place in some remote town. It's cloudy and dark a lot, so there is not much scenery-describing text.
Plot: A boy is trying to figure out why his uncle is crazy and what is up with the garden. He also gets some lessons in the dangers of unchecked curiosity.
Conflict: There are some in ...more
I liked the idea here, and thought that Obert delivered it well.
Setting: A dreary place in some remote town. It's cloudy and dark a lot, so there is not much scenery-describing text.
Plot: A boy is trying to figure out why his uncle is crazy and what is up with the garden. He also gets some lessons in the dangers of unchecked curiosity.
Conflict: There are some in ...more
I read the first Leven Thumps book and didn't care for it. I had heard that Obert Skye's ability to write had improved with each book he has written, and therefore I decided to give him another shot.
First, I can't say this book is horrible. I realize it's youth fiction, and from a young person's standpoint this book has the potential to be fun and interesting. However, I can't say that this book wowed me either. It's short, and it cruises along at a decent pace, but overall there's a certain sty ...more
First, I can't say this book is horrible. I realize it's youth fiction, and from a young person's standpoint this book has the potential to be fun and interesting. However, I can't say that this book wowed me either. It's short, and it cruises along at a decent pace, but overall there's a certain sty ...more
This was actually included with Choke, which I won in a First Reads giveaway. Which is a good thing, as it allowed me to start the story from the beginning.
I really enjoyed the story, a tale of generations of the Pillage / Phillips family of males and how their ability to affect the growth of plants and also raise dragons ultimately consumes and destroys them. The question in this, and subsequent I presume, book is, how will the protagonist Beck Phillips handle it?
I'm reading Choke next and defi ...more
I really enjoyed the story, a tale of generations of the Pillage / Phillips family of males and how their ability to affect the growth of plants and also raise dragons ultimately consumes and destroys them. The question in this, and subsequent I presume, book is, how will the protagonist Beck Phillips handle it?
I'm reading Choke next and defi ...more
Even for a fantasy book, this one had some gaps. And while I like a happy ending, things tied up a little too neatly at the end to really seem plausable. Also, a few too many "Because I'm an Angry Teenager, Dang-it!" cliches for my taste... this one always seemed on the cusp of getting interesting, but when we got to the big climax, the author seemed to have forgotten it was supposed to be exciting. It wasn't out-right BAD, but I promise within six months I will forget I ever read it.
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I really enjoyed reading this book, it drew me in quite quickly. It took me only a few days to get completely through it, and I appreciate that there is no series-its just a single book. That being said, I didn't like how quickly it ended. A majority of the book was spent building up the plot and then within just a few short chapters everything was resolved. I wish he had spent a little more time wrapping things up. Despite that, I still would recommend this to a friend-it was a fun read.
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I hadn't even heard of this book before I went to the book store and saw it there. I liked the Leven Thumps books so I desided to give it a try. It was pretty good. A really easy read, and it's pretty short. It's about a 15 year old boy whose had a hard life growing up and then has to move in with his crazy uncle.
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This was the second time I'd read this story and I was honestly just as suprised by the ending this time as I was the first. It's a very original story, that Obert Skye weaves beautifully together. It's not your typical dragon story. The main character is likable and funny. I'm excited to read the second book.
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I thought this book was great. I read it with my kids (ages 12, 10, 7) and they all really enjoyed it. We were all a bit bumbed when it actually ended and there was no set up for a sequel. I would recommend this to anyone who likes the world of dragons and fantasy.
Beck's mother dies and he is sent to live with a rich uncle in Kingsplot. He soon becomes aware that things are unusual there and he is a pawn who unleashes dragons on the unsuspecting town.
Nice, light fantasy. felt sorry for Beck and the dragons. ...more
Nice, light fantasy. felt sorry for Beck and the dragons. ...more
Vaughn and I gave this book to Bekah for her 9th birthday. She read it in a couple of days and really liked it so I gave it a try too. She was right! It is a quick, fun read. I think most young people will enjoy it!
My kids have long loved this series and I finally got around to reading Pillage.
Great book for middle graders and for those of us much older than that who just enjoy a great dragon story.
Content: Clean
Great book for middle graders and for those of us much older than that who just enjoy a great dragon story.
Content: Clean
It felt like it took awhile to really get where this story was going. It kept my interest but also kept me asking myself- where is this all going? It was a fun read and I'd recomend it. Aparently it's a series. I'll check them out.
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Obert Skye read his first book at age two. He wrote his first story at age four. And he was nearly trampled by a herd of water buffalo at age six. For a short time, he lived on the Isle of Skye in Scotland, where he spent time as a candy-taster. Several years ago, Obert Skye says, he discovered the existence of Foo. Publishing his story as a fictional series was not Obert’s first choice. Neverthel
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